1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to crop drying apparatus and pertains more particularly to apparatus utilizing solar energy for accomplishing the drying.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Apparatus now in general use for bin-drying stored grain involves the supplying of fuel-heated air through a perforated floor just above the bottom of the bin, the heated air passing upwardly through the grain. The reason for using such prior art apparatus is that if only unheated air is circulated, then the drying process is considerably prolonged and deterioration of the grain can occur. Therefore, in most cases it is desirable to heat the air and thus accelerate the drying action. Usually, heaters are of the gas-fired type. However, fuels of this type have experienced an extremely rapid rise in price in recent times, making the use of such heaters more and more costly.
Solar energy has been used for drying crops. For example, collectors have been mounted on the sides of circular bins, the heat therefrom being used to dry the crop in place of conventional heaters. Owing to the volume of air required for drying large quantities of grain, the use of any great number of collectors becomes quite costly. Of course, too few collectors will not dry the grain adequately. Also, problems of localized overheating have occurred.